TITLE:
Energy Losses in Superconductors
AUTHORS:
Charles Dean, Milind N. Kunchur
KEYWORDS:
Mixed State, Vortices, Critical Current, Two-Band
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Power and Energy Engineering,
Vol.4 No.5,
May
25,
2016
ABSTRACT: Absence of macroscopic resistance is the most essential trait of superconductors for their practical applications. Yet several mechanisms lead to dissipation in the superconducting state such as weak links, fluctuations, and the motion of flux vortices in the mixed state of type II materials. Thus it is of practical as well as fundamental interest to explore these mechanisms to the fullest extent and to learn how to control them. Regarding the control of flux motion, most research efforts aim at preventing flux motion by introducing a variety of pinning strategies. In the present work, we discuss the circumstances under which it is possible to exclude vortices in the first place, or to short their motion through intrinsic multi-band effects. Experimental results on two model systems, molybdenum-germanium and magnesium diboride films, are presented to support these strategies.